Sunday, January 31, 2010

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1952 Topps #227 Joe Garagiola

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, January 31, 2010:


  • Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1952 Topps #227.
  • Player Name, position, team: Joe Garagiola, catcher, Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • Major League Debut: May 26, 1946.
  • Last Line of Statistics: 1951 stats (Pirates): 99 G, 284 AB, 33 R, 68 H, 11 HR, 44 RBI, .239 AVG. Fielding stats: 336 putouts, 36 assists, 4 errors, .989 fielding average.
  • Any special information about player: Signed by Cardinals as a Free Agent before 1942. Traded by the Cardinals to the Pirates 06/15/1951. Bats: left, Throws: right.
  • Any special information about this specific card: Garagiola's first regular Topps card (his only Topps card as an active player). Joe spent three years in the military before making his major league debut in 1946. Along with the height and weight specs were eye (brown) and hair (brown) color. Played a major role in the Cardinals' World Series win in '46, batting .316 in the series. Garagiola went on to better things as a sports broadcaster and host of the Today Show. The card itself has been reprinted twice. The first time was for the 1983 Topps Archives 1952 reprint set. The second time in the 2001 Topps Archives set. As this was Joe's only Topps card, and the 2001 Topps Archives set consisted of reprint cards of a player's first and last Topps card, this card was reprinted into the set twice.
  • Lo-Hi Beckett value: $50.00-$80.00.
  • How many cards of this player do I own?: 2 cards.
In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM. (By the way, loving the new features regarding viewing by card number!!!)

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 1979 Topps #35. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

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